There are many exercise devices of various designs presently available to a person who desires to exercise.
Commonly, such exercise devices include a movable lever arm and weights that can be connected to the lever arm to provide a resistance to its movement. The resistance to movement of the lever arm is overcome by a force exerted on the lever arm by a person using the device for exercise.
A drawback to such devices is that the direction of the force exerted by the person doing the exercise is defined by the motion of the lever arm, which is fixed, depending upon the design of the particular exercise device being used. Therefore, in order to move the lever arm in different directions or angles with respect to the body so that different muscles can be exercised, the person must reposition himself at a different angle with respect to the device for each exercise. Such repositioning can be inconvenient depending on the position required for a given exercise. Furthermore, it has been found that all of the exercises in an exercise program cannot be done on a single such exercise device. For example, when the lever arm is designed to be moved by a pushing motion, exercises that require a pulling motion cannot be done on that device. Conversely, when the lever arm (or a pulley and cable arrangement) on the device is designed to be pulled, this device cannot be used for exercises that require a pushing motion.
Because such presently known exercise devices can accommodate only a portion of the motions required for a full exercise program, generally a plurality of such devices, each having a different design, must be used.
Buying a plurality of separate exercise devices, each designed for a different portion of an exercise program, can be very expensive. Additionally, when several exercise devices are required, they may take up more space than is available or can be afforded. For example, space may not be available in a house to accommodate more than one exercise device.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for a single exercise device that can accommodate a substantial portion of the motions required for a full exercise program.